The Mailbox: Reader happy to still have a long list of bowls to watch

Editor: With apologies to Timex, give credit to the college football bowls: They take a licking but keep on ticking.

Ray Stein, The Columbus Dispatch

Editor: With apologies to Timex, give credit to the college football bowls: They take a licking but keep on ticking.

The new, four-team playoff was met with hosannas from the “death to the BCS” crowd until they stepped back and examined the new and improved model. It looks pretty much like the old one.

And within two days, ESPN, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and the Rose Bowl were celebrating a new 12-year agreement, a contract length equal to that of the four-team playoff.

So those of us who love the bowls are looking forward to nirvana on New Year’s Day in a sunny locale or in front of an array of TVs and computers.

We will happily advise on improvements in 2026 if the Mailbox is still here.

— Jim Mengel, New Albany

Jim: Looks pretty much the same? What are you looking at? The bowls were never going away — unfortunately for those of us who don’t clamor to see mediocrity incarnate in nothing games. Thankfully, the playoffs will further marginalize the games that aren’t semifinals, and maybe by 2026 we will have an eight-team bracket.

Mr. Stein:I read in the Washington Post that a playoff is coming in 2014 to major-college football.

Where and when willElwood Gordon Gee,Ohio State’s president, be laid in state so that respects might be paid to thislast defenderof the indefensible: computers deciding the national champions?

— Dennis J. Grad

Severn, Md.

Dennis: Like Mark Twain before him, reports of Dr. Gee’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. But I will admit that I’m itching to hear what the man has to say about the whole playoff matter.

Ray: Just think if the Clippers were still playing at the Coop. With the Indians being their major-league affiliate, I would not be surprised if they didn’t draw 700,000 to 800,000 fans.

Also, you would be able to get $2 hot dogs and $4 beers. And parking would be $5. Bring back the Coop.

— Bob Renspie, Columbus

Bob: As long as we’re being nostalgic, let’s bring back BBF and Lazarus and the Ohio Pen. And what the hey, let’s make the Horseshoe a horseshoe again.

Ray: The Jackets’ draft reminds me of the guy in my fantasy football league who failed to set a queue of players and put it on auto draft. He ended up draft- ingeight tight ends.

By the end of the third round in the 2012 draft, (general manager) Scott Howson had spent five draft choices (including the trade for Sergei Bobrovsky) on goaltenders — and he still doesn’t have a legitimate NHL starterfor this season.

He might need them all to play at the same time, with thecomplete failure to address the lack of offense. Ryan Murray was a solid choice, but overall there are no signs anything is going to change under the present management.

— Jeff Henderson, Pickerington

Jeff: In the case of the Jackets and their goalies, more is less at the moment. And maybe for many months worth of moments.

Ray: First, the Jackets asked me to “Carry the flag,” then pleaded with me that “You got to see it live.” Now we have the latest: “Join the battle!”

What battle is this? The battle for the right to lose next year’s draft lottery and miss on Nathan MacKinnon? Or will it be next February’sbattle that teams will wage to get Rick Nash for a bag of pucks and some draft picks that the Jackets really don’t develop? Yep, Nasher will be here, as happy as ever.

Well, there’s always the hope of a lockout. Is there any wonder why John Davidson packed it in on coming here?

The best defensemen cannot block every shot, and the goalie duo on the roster let in more softies than the ice cream cones served by DQ. There is no offensive help down on the farm in Springfield, and this year’s list of free agents is one of the weakest groups in memory.

And still the architects of this mess incredibly remain as the hole gets deeper and wider.